


Neopolitan

by AblatedCrayon



Category: RWBY
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-16
Updated: 2015-03-16
Packaged: 2018-03-18 03:21:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,911
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3554156
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AblatedCrayon/pseuds/AblatedCrayon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Neopolitan and Cinder have a very complicated relationship; neither fully understands the other. What they do understand, however, is that they cannot stay away, no matter the risk of getting burned. They each have their secrets, but share a truth between themselves: what they have is irreplaceable.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Neopolitan

**Neopolitan**

 

By AblatedCrayon

 

RWBY and related names belong to Rooster Teeth.  
This original work of fiction was written for nonprofit purposes.  
Original characters and plotline elements belong to the author.  
© AblatedCrayon 2015

 

Neo shrugged a heavy Roman Torchwick off her shoulder. Beneath her feet, the bullhead banked heavily and accelerated quickly, forcing them both to quickly adopt wide stances to remain standing inside the personnel transport. Neo took one last glance at her adversaries down below, standing beside the wrecked remains of Roman’s Paladin. Neo had seen the entire fight, and she was surprised at the four girls’ skill. They fought well as a unit and shredded the war machine like it was made of paper.

Roman growled angrily. “If I ever, _ever_ get my hands on that little snob Red, she is going to regret it!”

Neo shrugged as the bullhead’s side door closed, shutting out the howling wind. She took a seat at the bench at the back of the bullhead, setting her pink, lacy parasol across her lap. She looked straight past Roman as he continued to rant.

“And _you,_ honey, are worthless! Where were you when those children destroyed my _Paladin_ _?_ ” He pointed the business end of Melodic Cudgel straight at Neo’s stomach. She grimaced, obviously upset by the gesture.

“I simply cannot believe this. Cinder is counting on us, Neo, and we need the White Fang. How many recruits do you think are going to leave that rally and join us in the south east? Let me clue you in: they just witnessed the war machine meant to give them their martial victory instead get smashed into pieces by four girls from combat school. Worthless! If I see even ten percent of them show up, I’ll eat my hat.”

The loss of face, while regrettable, had yielded much to Neo. She knew each of her opponent’s faces, catalogued what she had seen of each of their fighting styles. The “red” one obviously led them and made them effective as a unit. Yellow obviously knew how to absorb a great deal of punishment without flinching, and could return it in kind. Black fought with misdirection; a style not unlike Neo’s own in several respects. White was Neo’s first target. Easier than the rest to disable, and did the most to multiply the force her allies could bring to bear. Neo was not interested in starting something with this squad of girls unless she had the informational advantage, unlike Roman. He went into that fight not knowing how he could defeat them. Perhaps that worked for him, but Neo only managed to succeed so often because she planned the fight before she entered it.

Neo pivoted her parasol on the fulcrum of her left leg, catching Roman’s cane and pushing it to point away from her. Roman sneered, but disengaged, turning around to head for the cockpit. She returned the parasol to where it had been resting prior. She relaxed a bit as she felt the force of the bullhead’s acceleration subside at cruising speed. Roman’s mention of Cinder Fall put Neo in a contemplative mood.

While Neo was not as concerned as Roman, she was not a lynchpin in Cinder’s plans, either. She was a good foot soldier, taking her orders without complaint, even when those orders were to be Roman’s bodyguard for several White Fang recruiting missions downtown. Although Roman might not know it, his nature wore on Neo’s good graces. Still, she didn’t complain, and she did get Roman out of a rather dangerous position: flanked by four girls from a combat school who were more than ready to take him down just as they had his Paladin.

Neo sighed. Cinder didn’t share her plans with Neo, and sometimes she worried about them, especially considering the scale and scope of the pieces Neo personally had the chance to witness. She didn’t much care for giving the White Fang enough military equipment to start another war. Wars were very dangerous suggestions, especially considering how Remnant already balanced on a knife edge under the constant harassment of the grimm.

Despite her occasional misgivings, Neo had been drawn to Cinder from the first moment she met her. Cinder Fall was a woman cloaked in enigmas, just like Neo herself. For both women, half of their relationship was trying to guess who was in front of them. It was a delicate ballet dance, but they both fell into step with the experience to make moving art. Sometimes, hours together could pass in seconds for Neo. She decided they’d been parted long enough. It was time for their next performance. As the bullhead slowed to a stop, she smiled. The craft had begun its vertical landing.

Neo followed a few steps behind Roman as he led them into a warehouse filled with dust, faunus guards, and standing at the command table, one enigma in an unusual outfit, a black top with a white armband on the left arm, completed with a grey and black plaid skirt. It was very—muted—for Cinder Fall. Neo wondered how Cinder applied her craft, weaving Dust into clothing. It was as unusual today as it was visually striking on her customary outfit, she admitted easily to herself.

As was their custom, Cinder locked eyes with Neo first and foremost. The dance always began this way. Only once she was certain her partner was prepared, she allowed her gaze to shift onto Roman instead. “You look fit to strangle a babe,” Cinder commented.

Roman shook his head. “No, Cinder, perhaps fit to strangle you, but the babes are safe.”

Cinder sneered with a predatory look that Roman could not match. Sensing his mistake, he backed off that statement with his customary tactic, redirection. “I thought Neo went along to keep everything moving to plan. Well, as it turns out, she’s there to sit around while I get assaulted by junior sleuths from Beacon Academy. You brought me here to accomplish a great deal, and I’ve delivered. It could really help if I had some real backup, however, instead of an apathetic spy!”

Neo had heard this rant already on the bullhead, and she was not known for being idle. She turned to regard the warehouse and the witnesses throughout it. The White Fang guards were all well out of earshot unless Roman started yelling, which was unlikely. They patrolled every corner of the massive warehouse, even the catwalks far above. Noting their positions, speeds, and directions, Neo turned her attention back to Cinder, pleased to see her seeking eye contact again. Neo shrugged, blinking a few times. Cinder’s grin was nothing short of satisfied, and they continued their silent interplay. Neo walked away from Roman, but never stopped watching Cinder’s eyes. Cinder followed her with short glances, moving back and forth from Roman to Neo, never letting him catch onto her divided attention. Cinder never missed a word Roman said; her skill at this game was undeniable. When Roman stopped, Cinder focused on him to continue their conversation. Meanwhile, Neo shifted around further, trying to hide from Cinder by being unassuming and blending with the background, but without actually being out of sight. When Cinder finished, she scanned and reacquired Neo in a split second. Neo judged the alacrity with which Cinder found her sufficient; she acknowledged she had lost with a slight nod.

Neo had missed this. All the time spent campaigning around the city at White Fang meetings hadn’t seemed so terrible at the time, but any time spent away from Cinder was terrible in its own right. What value did life have without games? Roman didn’t understand. It was all work, work, work, and plan, plan, plan. He, too, rarely took the time to enjoy the moment.

Despite Cinder’s excellent example at this game, Neo herself had failed to pay attention to Cinder and Roman’s conversation. If roles were reversed, Neo would lose every time, failing to divide her attention without being apparent. It made her smirk with humor, however, to imagine herself in Cinder’s role, spouting honeyed words backed up by a razor sharp tongue should a more aggressive approach be required. It was not a trait Neo could imagine herself having. She was content with silence, studied in patience, and most certainly not a conversationalist.

As Cinder’s attention was monopolized by Roman again, Neo regarded the warehouse. One of the floor guards was supposed to be twenty meters to Neo’s eight o’clock, but he was missing. Neo rechecked the other guards she’d mapped in her head. They were all about where she expected to find them, save the one she’d already noticed missing. Concerned, Neo shifted away from her location using her semblance to close on the missing guard’s patrol route. The “veil,” as she called it, the disguised mirror image would buy her a few seconds to investigate before anyone knew she was gone.

The voices of Roman and Cinder faded away to obscurity as Neo arrived at her destination. There were several moderately high crates of Dust, creating dead zones where Neo with her unusually short stature couldn’t see. She picked the first one to the left, and started searching.

The patrol for this guard was quite long, and distracted as Neo had been with Cinder and their game, she had a lot of ground to cover. Not finding her mark behind the first hiding spot, Neo picked up her pace. She ruled out the next two with the turn of a corner, and came up on the final spot. As she turned another corner, she brought herself up short. The faunus man was leaning against a dust crate, but he had his scroll open and was listening to something. He froze as soon as he spied her, and the sound from the scroll cut mid-sentence. They regarded each other for a few countless moments. He lowered the device to his pocket, replacing it. “Ma’am,” he greeted, standing straight, turning, and going to resume his patrol. Neo slammed her parasol against the concrete floor, the _crack_ causing the faunus to freeze mid-step. He turned around slowly.

Neo raised her parasol, pointed the tip at his pocket, and gave the man her hardest look. He walked up to her obediently, reached into his pocket, and produced the scroll. He held it out to her. Neo held her parasol in her right hand, ready to react if he tried anything, but let it unfurl before placing the beam at rest against her shoulder. With her left hand, she took his proffered device, rewound the last thirty seconds, and hit play.

A video started playing. Neo didn’t recognize the serial, but she knew it to be some kind of mass entertainment. She played it for a few seconds to ensure nothing was hidden amongst the video, then hit stop.

Neo met the faunus’ eyes as best she could, but they were mostly hidden by the mask of Grimm he wore. She placed the scroll back in his hands, held her parasol up, and closed it. He visibly relaxed, sighed. “Thank you,” he said, then turned and resumed his scheduled patrol.

Neo’s nose wrinkled. She wasn’t happy to find her mark had been distracting himself while patrolling, but it wasn’t worth her effort to kill him over it. She turned around, intent on finding her way back to Cinder and Roman. She gasped in surprise, however, to see Cinder already standing behind her, her yellow eyes alight with humor.

“Neo,” she purred happily. “Whatever do you get up to? Leaving me so soon, am I really that boring?”

Neo shrugged, but nodded her head emphatically ‘no’. They shared a smile filled with good humor.

“Well good, dearest. Let’s go; I’m done here.”

Neo followed Cinder as she left the warehouse to enter the fenced courtyard beyond. She seemed to be heading in the direction of some parked cars, so Neo guessed they must be done for the night. The sun was quite low now, and an opportunistic Nevermore would relish the rapidly approaching dark’s assistance for an attack. This deep into the city, however, the chances were relatively low it could have circumvented the aerial defense at the walls.

Neo dropped her gaze from the sky back to her faithful leader. Cinder set a languid pace, obviously not in a rush, and Neo hesitated as she tried to decide if Cinder wanted her to walk alongside instead of behind. Taking a guess, she picked up her own pace until she came abreast of Cinder.

Cinder’s affirming glance told Neo she had guessed correctly. As they walked, Cinder sighed. “I should apologize. When I told you to protect Roman on his tour of Vale, I really didn’t consider how taxing that would be.”

Neo smiled. Cinder was considerate to her inner circle, her—friends? Neo pondered if she counted herself as Cinder’s true friend, or as another level of pseudo-friend… Cinder kept the world at a distance. Many who counted themselves as being in Cinder’s inner circle were in actuality so far outside it they wouldn’t recognize the inside if they saw it.

Could Neo herself be as equally deluded? A question with no answer, another part to their game. The best part of their games were that they never ended.

Cinder walked past a very expensive looking two-seater silver sportster. It was Roman’s car, bred for a level of speed and agility that it could never attain in the tight and narrow streets of Vale. She paid it no mind, and Neo looked beyond it to acquire their ride. There it was: a small, unassuming two-seater, economical, practical, and omnipresent on Vale’s roads. It was the literal definition of camouflage.

Cinder climbed into the driver’s side, popping open the opposite side door from inside the car. Neo walked around the front and climbed in the passenger’s side. As Neo entered, Cinder readjusted her skirt that had been pulled tight by her slide across her seat. Neo inhaled a breath to cover her moment of rapture watching Cinder adjust her clothing. She used her fortitude to resist blushing, but barely.

Cinder spoke once they left the lot and the watching eyes of the faunus guards behind. “Roman certainly had a lot to say about the girls from Beacon. Anything you would add?”

Neo didn’t, so she remained silent.

Cinder acknowledged the answer with a tired sigh. “I told him not to worry, but their presence concerns me. It’s obvious Roman has a fan club, and they are out to find out everything they can about him. Most of that involves us. It’s time to have our own eyes on them.”

Neo turned to Cinder with a hopeful smile, but Cinder shook her head. “No, honey. You stand out like an ursa among the village. They will be forever fascinated with your strange demeanor. I’ll watch them personally, or did you think I just woke up today and swore off the color red?”

Neo’s smile fell immediately, and she jerked as she looked away. Cinder didn’t often make a point about how Neo was different from everyone else. It was an unexpected hurt, a resurfacing wound that was inflicted deep in her childhood and left to fester.

In Neo’s sudden avoidance, Cinder caught her mistake. With her right hand, she reached over and covered Neo’s left, squeezing an apology. Neo accepted it, spinning her hand around to squeeze Cinder’s back. She couldn’t look at Cinder right now, though, not with the sorrow threatening to break her defenses and leave her sobbing. She looked out the window, regarding the buildings beyond, trying to lose track of the sadness first.

Cinder pushed past it too, continuing, “Phase two is coming soon, and it’s an important piece of the puzzle. Our world hangs by a thread. I won’t lie to you; I’m worried. We have a lot riding on this, and it can fall apart so easily.” Cinder released Neo’s hand and returned to the wheel. “I want you to be extra vigilant. This is far from over. Roman lacks our patience, and he needs to be kept in line. I won’t tolerate him endangering our undertaking for his own short-sighted appeasement. Not to mention, those girls… They can still be a serious problem if they uncover our activities while tracking Roman. You need to ensure they cannot. Be mindful of them and cover Roman’s tracks the best you can. It will be easier once he leaves the city.”

Neo sighed. She was being sent away again. Worse, it was still with Roman. The news couldn’t be more disappointing. Now she refused to look in Cinder’s direction from pure spite; it was hardly an improvement.

Cinder sighed too. “You’re right. I’m sorry if I ruined our night. Please, let’s try to put it behind us. We don’t have very long to enjoy ourselves; we should make the most of tonight, and let tomorrow care for its own woes.”

Neo liked that sentiment enough; she turned to Cinder with an affirming smile. Cinder shared it with her own mischievous bend. “Tonight, we are nothing but ourselves, true to our hearts, and wicked to the core.”

Neo laughed loud and boisterous, completely filling the car with her melodic harmony. Cinder’s own pleasure was quite apparent in her appraising golden eyes. Neo didn’t know where they would go first, but with Cinder at the wheel, she was nothing but content.


End file.
